Apparatus and system for straightening DIP devices are not new per se. There are several patents owned by the common assignee of the present application showing apparatus and system for straightening DIP devices which have a generally rectangular body portion and a series of a fingers or leads projecting from opposite side edges of the body portion which are generally elongated straight fingers.
______________________________________ Inventor Title U.S. Pat. No. Issued ______________________________________ Linker ELECTRONIC 4,481,984 11/13/84 COMPONENT LEAD STRAIGHTENING DEVICE & METHOD Linker HIGH SPEED 4,787,426 11/29/88 ELECTRICAL COMPONENT LEAD FORMING APPARATUS & METHOD ______________________________________
In these apparatus, the DIPs are usually fed by gravity along an elongated trackway through various stations including a lead straightening station where the fingers of combs moving transversely to the trackway engage between the fingers and in this manner align the leads in relation to one another. These prior apparatus have been found to be effective for the purposes intended. However, the "gull-winged" DIP device because of the complex shape of the leads which are generally Z-shaped configuration present different problems in the straightening or aligning process. Furthermore, in the "gull-winged" DIP devices, it is essential that the pads of the leads lie in a common plane for proper assembly to the printed circuit board. In other words, there needs to be coplanarity of the pads before a DIP device is suitable for assembly.